Megan Hoey Mrs.

Anderson Honors English 9 February 9, 2014 Biographical Research for Dean Koontz

Dean R. Koontz or Dean Ray Koontz was born on July 9, 1945 in Everett, Pennsylvania. He went to Shippensburg State College and graduated from there. After that he worked as a teacher for an anti-poverty campaign in the 60s. He used to write in his spare time but hadnt started his writing career because he was serving as a high school English teacher outside of Harrisburg, at the time. In the 70s, he began his full-time writing career with the support of Gerda, his wife. His beginning work consisted of novels from various genres including romance and thrillers under a large number of pseudonyms. In 1973, his novel Demon Seed was sold to MGM and the movie did a moderate business, despite the unpleasant concept of a computers wish to produce progeny made its way into the prime time television. (Famous Authors) While a senior in college, Koontz won an Atlantic Monthly fiction competition, and has been writing ever since. His books have been/are published in 38 languages and have sold over 450 million copies to date. Fourteen of his novels have risen to the top on the New York Times hardcover bestseller list (One Door Away From Heaven, From the Corner of His Eye, Midnight, Cold Fire, The Bad Place, Hideaway, Dragon Tears, Intensity, Sole Survivor, The Husband, Odd Hours, Relentless, What the Night Knows, and 77 Shadow Street), making him one of only a dozen writers to have ever achieved this milestone. Sixteen of his books have risen to the number one spot in paperback. His books have been major bestsellers in countries as diverse as Japan and Sweden. The New York Times has called his writing psychologically complex, masterly and satisfying. The New Orleans Times-Picayune said Koontz is, at times lyrical without ever being naive or romantic. [He creates] a grotesque world, much like that of Flannery OConner or Walker Percy scary, worthwhile reading. Rolling Stone has addressed him as Americas most popular suspense novelist. (Dean Koontz) In 1966 Koontz was awarded the Atlantic Monthly Creative Writing Award for his short story "Kittens," and in 1971 his novella, Beastchild, received a Hugo Award nomination. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Horror Writers of America, and is married to the former Gerda Ann Cerra. He lives in the Newport-Laguna area of southern California. Koontz had a childhood that no child should have to endure. His family was very poor, and this was primarily because of Koontz's father, Ray, an alcoholic who was a violent drunk and who, not surprisingly, lost one job after another because of his alcohol addiction. Although his father was

a relatively short man-5'6"-he mustve seemed huge to a small child, and it is likely that his drunken rages have contributed a great deal to Deans creation of such terrifying sociopathic characters. (Bellevue College) Deans first book, Star Quest, was published in 1968. Over forty years and over eighty novels later he is still going strong. The passion that Dean Koontz has for writing is simply exuded by every page. But, I feel an even closer bond with Koontz when I realize his revulsion with Freudian theories. How weary it became over so many years that each character or subject of a movie, play, or novel had a traumatic past that would shape what he became. What a joy to know that Koontz thinks of the human personality as much more than a cause-and-effect mechanism and rather one with great depth. His works are not only a wonderful antiseptic to the infections that Freudian thinking has created in life, but moreover his writings are amongst the most spellbinding and riveting that I have ever read. Said The Amazing Kreskin in an interview regarding Koontzs work. (Strange Horizons)

Works Cited
"About Dean Dean Koontz." Dean Koontz. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. http://www.deankoontz.com/ about-dean/ "Dean Koontz." Famous Authors. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. http://www.famousauthors.org/deankoontz "Chapter 1: The Life of Dean Koontz." Dean Koontz by Joan G. Kotker. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/kotker/koon1.htm "Tribute to Dean Koontz: Forty Years as a Published Novelist." Strange Horizons Articles: , by Michael McCarty. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2008/20080428/0mccartya.shtml